The Tampa Bay Lightning wrapped up a pretty miserable weekend on the ice on Sunday night with a 6-2 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins.

That game came just 24 hours after they were thoroughly outplayed in Philadelphia, with both losses being part of their current four-game losing streak that has seen them give up 22 goals (while only scoring 11).

Now that the Lightning are officially into the second half of their season and facing an uphill battle to get into a playoff position, it is probably not too early to start seriously worrying about their chances of actually making the postseason.

Tampa Bay’s result on Sunday, when combined with the Ottawa Senators’ 5-3 win over the Edmonton Oilers later in the evening, now means that the Senators own a four-point lead over the Lightning for the third playoff spot in the Atlantic Division. The Lightning are also six points behind Philadelphia (after losing to the Flyers in regulation on Saturday, while the Flyers earned another point in an overtime loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets) for the second wild card spot in the Eastern Conference.

Don’t think that matters much at this point?

Well just consider that at this point last season only three teams that were out of a playoff position on Jan. 9 were able to overtake one of the teams ahead of them and earn a spot. None of those teams overcame a deficit of more than four points (three of them overcame deficits of three points or less). They also had multiple games in hand on the teams they were chasing at this point. The Lightning do not.

Look at it another way, given their current record the Lightning are on pace for 82 points this season, which would be a pretty massive drop from the past three seasons when they never had less than 97 and were among the NHL’s final four teams the past two years.

But look at what the teams ahead of them in the Atlantic Division are on pace for right now: Montreal Canadiens, 115 points; Ottawa Senators, 95 points; Toronto Maple Leafs, 92 points; Boston Bruins, 90 points

The Wild Card race is even worse for them with the top-four teams in the Metropolitan Division all currently on pace for more than 110 points and the Philadelphia Flyers on pace for 93.

That is the ground the Lightning have to make up in the second half, and that is not going to be easy. Epecially with Steven Stamkos still sidelined for most of the season.

His injury is when things really started to unravel for the Lightning. At that point the Lightning were 10-6-1 and seemed to be on track to remain as a top contender in the East.

Three stars

Bishop and his backup edge Hart here due to the fact that Bishop got run over by Calgary Flames forward Garnet Hathaway, forcing him to leave the game in the second period with the Stars up 1-0.

Khudobin held down the fort while Bishop was getting checked out to close out the second period.

Bishop would only miss about six-and-a-half minutes as he led Dallas back onto the ice in the third and resumed where he left off. The duo combined for 24 saves for the shutout as Dallas won 2-0, making some history in the process.

2. Carter Hart, Philadelphia Flyers

Hart made history as he stepped onto the ice in his NHL debut, becoming the Flyers’ sixth goalie to appear in their first 35 games. That’s not a great record to hold, but he’ll be in the annals of hockey history for a while, I’d imagine.

History or not, Hart was solid in his inauguration. He turned aside 20 saves as he and newly-minted head coach Scott Gordon picked up their first wins at their respective positions.

Hart is facing a lot of pressure here. He’s dubbed as the future in Philly and for good reason. Some call the City of Brotherly Love a graveyard for goaltenders. Perhaps Hart can buck the trend. Who knows.

The Sharks netminders earned his first shutout of the season, making 26 saves for career goose egg No. 20. Jones’ save percentage this season has left a bit more to be desired, so Tuesday’s effort was a good refresher for fans on what he’s capable of.

San Jose has now won five in a row as they continue their ascent to the top of the Pacific Division.

Other notable performances:

Evgenii Dadonov had two goals and an assist in Florida’s 5-2 win over the Sabres.

Who knew the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Vancouver Canucks harbored so much hate for one another?

Wherever it came from, the apparent bad blood between the two teams was certainly flowing at a steady pace on Tuesday night in Vancouver.

Things were going well until around the 12-minute mark of the second period. It was then that Antoine Roussel landed a big hit on Lightning star Yanni Gourde.

Gourde, not impressed with being turnbuckled, took exception and the two squared off. He got five for fighting and a 10-minute misconduct. Roussel was assessed two for roughing and five for fighting.

From there, Canucks defenseman was forced out of the game after an apparent head shot from Lightning forward Danick Martel.

Martel was skating back through the neutral zone when he saw that Stecher had the puck near the boards. The hit looked innocuous at first, but replays showed that Martel seemed to extend his shoulder into Stecher’s head.

Stecher left the game and the Canucks said he wouldn’t return.

With tempers already boiling, things got completely out of hand with under a minute left in the period.

So Tuesday’s 2-1 win at home at United Center against the mighty Nashville Predators on NBCSN, however insignificant it ends up being at the end of the season, was a welcomed change.

If recent history is to be believed, the Blackhawks might have even been slight favorites heading into the game.

Nashville began the season a perfect 8-0-0 outside of Tennessee, but have now lost eight in a row (0-6-2) since. They’re also pretty banged up, so that helped, too.

Despite Nashville’s shortcomings on the road this as of late, it shouldn’t take away from Chicago’s performance.

They played a tight, offensive-minded game, outshooting the Predators 36-31, including 16-7 in the second period as they erased Nashville’s 1-0 lead and replaced it with a 2-1 advantage of their own.

Any hope of the Blackhawks not falling further from grace rests in the hands of Cam Ward at this point.

With Crawford out, Ward will be leaned on to provide the best netminding he can.

On Tuesday, he did just that, turning aside 30 shots. Ward was especially solid in the third, including the last two-and-a-half minutes of the third after the Preds pulled Pekka Rinne for the extra attacker.

Other things that went well: Chicago’s last-ranked power play was 1-for-3, producing five shots on goal. Their last-ranked penalty kill was 2-for-2, allowing just two shots on goal.

It all equates on some good stuff to build on. It’s been a while since Chicago produced an effort like that. The blueprint is there.

Dallas Stars fans were able to breathe a sigh of relief as the team came out for the third period on Tuesday.

Nearing the mid-way point fo the second period, Calgary Flames forward Garnet Hathaway went to challenge Bishop, who was playing the puck behind the net.

Bishop was able to move the puck to his defenseman but the incoming Hathaway’s shoulder caught him in the mask. The impact knocked Bishop over and he was slow to get up before being pulled from the game.

Here’s the hit:

Hathaway was given a two-minute minor for goaltender interference. Stars defenseman Roman Polak got a roughing minor after going after Hathaway following the hit.

Bishop stopped all nine shots he faced in the 33:37 he played. Anton Khudobin logged 6:23 in relief before Bishop led the Stars out for the third period.

Bishiop had a 10-8-1 record coming into Tuesday with a .920 save percentage. The Stars were leading 2-0 in the third.